Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Life is a Highway

February 11, 2020

Boy, January was a long month.  The winter weather here in Barnegat, New Jersey is quite dreary.  So far this year we have not had any snow or arctic cold blasts.  The temperatures have been averaging in the high 40's and 50's with quite a few gray and rainy days.  As I said dreary.


What we've been up to.

I helped Ross create a YouTube channel.  It's called "Ross' Snippets and Bits".  He has recorded two episodes so far and the response has been favorable.
I would describe the content as a reminiscence journey.

We both upgraded our iPhones to the 11's.  Our old phones were 7's.  The new phones were a little challenging to get used to because navigating around them is now all done via touch screen.  The physical home button has been replaced with swiping motions.  Also the fingerprint ID was replaced with facial recognition.

Oh, by the way, though, you can still make and receive phones calls with the phone 😀

I have been doing a lot of driving lately.  As someone who was used to being the chauffeured, and not the chauffeur, I have become much more appreciative of what it takes to get behind the wheel.
I consider myself to be a conservative driver.  By that I mean I obey the rules of the road.  And by that I mean I drive the speed limit.  I have discovered that most people don't.  I find cars either whizzing by me or on my tail.  It's as if they are challenging me to a race or strongly urging me to get out of the way.

We frequently travel on a road which is a two lane highway.  The speed limit is 55 MPH.
County Route 539, abbreviated CR 539, is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends 54.32 miles (87.42 km) from Main Street (U.S. Route 9 or US 9) in Tuckerton to CR 535 in Cranbury Township. Much of the two-lane route passes through isolated areas of the Pine Barrens and Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst. In these stretches, the route has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour (89 km/h), one of the few two-lane roads in the state to carry a 55 mph limit. CR 539  through three boroughs: Tuckerton, Allentown, and Hightstown. Other than those boroughs, the route travels mainly through rural townships.
 There usually is not a lot of traffic on this road, but because it is a two-laner, whatever traffic there is tends to become parades of clumps of perhaps a dozen cars, each one behind the other.   Although, there are sections of the road where no passing is permitted, a lot of the road does permit alternate lane passing.



As I previously mentioned, I obey the speed limit, especially on this road.  That means on the sections where no passing is permitted, I tend to have a string of cars behind me.
A lot of the time, the car directly behind me, is up on my tail, anxiously waiting to break away as soon as the passing zone comes up.

I wonder where that person going in such a hurry?   I wonder how much time he or she saved by passing me so they can speed up to 10 or 15 miles above the speed limit?  I wonder if they will appreciate that precious time they have saved. I  hope they will spend it wisely.

I am totally amused, though when that person passes me, speeds up,  comes to a traffic light, has to stop, and finds me right behind them.  😈

Life's like a road that you travel on 
Where there's one day here and the next day gone...




4 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    I gave up the car last year as I aged into the free bus pass... but I too am a stickler for the speed limit, while many around appeared not to be! Where are the speed cops??? Well, here, at least, there are cameras all over the place supposedly monitoring speeds. My sisters have both rec'd infringement fines so I guess that system works! Not much good if an accident is caused though.

    Thanks for the link here to Ross's tubular; I totally lost it from the insty thing. YAM xx

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  2. I subscribed to Ross' YouTube. I'll try to remember to come back and listen to it when I have more time. That's good he's doing these! I think no matter where one lives January is a long month. Not much to look forward to except cold weather and short days with not much sun. I don't care to drive but when I do drive I do the speed limit most of the time. That road you drive on would not be fun if you got people right on your bumper as you are trying to obey the speed limit.

    betty

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  3. I upgraded to the iPhone 11, too, but my last iPhone was the 6. So, yeah, I'm with you on the learning curve. The phone only recognizes me about half the time, usually not doing so when I'm in bed. Sigh.

    I, too, love when someone passes me in a big hurry only to have me catch up to them at a light. I like to laugh at them.

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  4. Boy, do I ever agree with you about doing all the driving these days. Plus the idiots who basically try and push you to exceed the speed limit. I too get very amused when I catch these people up at the next lights.

    I do find Matt is a back seat driver though. Constant criticism although it has dropped off a bit lately I think.

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